When COVID-19 broke out globally in 2020, offices across the world were shut in favour of work-from-home (WFH) arrangements.

And almost as soon as the doors of these offices were shuttered, office landlords, especially US-focused office REITs, began assuring investors that the WFH trend would not last.

“Companies will still need the office to build a culture and collaborate” became almost a self-serving mantra repeated on the lips of almost every US-exposed office REIT's CEO.

Citing the JLL Global Real Estate Perspective 2021 survey, Singapore-listed US office REIT, Prime US REIT, boldly predicted in June that year that most of its tenants will return to the office “in the coming months”.